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12/18/10

Your author received the following mail from A Reader regarding the latest pump job from the über-scummy Jonathan Lebed (who's already been done by the SEC for his scamrunning). We received permission from A Reader to reproduce what you see and we also received a copy of the Lebed "analysis" (term used as loosely as possible) because it really is a case of 'seeing is believing on this one. The relevant excerpt is shown under the reader's mail. Enjoy

Otto, Thought you'd enjoy this. I'm subscribed to slimeball Jonathan Lebed's email pump list for purposes of knowing which stock he's pumping so I can know when a move is not legitimate. I've found these pumpers usually work together and they'll all buy up blocks ahead of time, then 3-5 email lists will all pump a stock, it makes a good-size move, and they get out with a 20-30% profit in a couple of days, leaving the public holding the bag.

The logic in his most recent note beats anything I've ever seen.

He writes about PC Gold. Now, PC Gold may or may not have anything worthwhile, I don't know. But it's Lebed's logic that is prison-worthy. He bases his valuation on the ounces of gold *that have previously been taken out of the ground*. That's right, he's determing value on the stuff that's no longer there.

Here's the key line copied and pasted: "This means PKL is currently being valued at only $15 per previously produced ounce of gold, when gold is currently $1,375 per ounce!"

What an analyst. If you ask me, that evaluation is worth two exclamation points!! If not three!!!

Here are Lebed's exact words:

"If you subtract PKL's cash position from its market cap, the Pickle Crow property is currently being valued at only $22 million when it previously produced 1.47 million ounces of gold. This means PKL is currently being valued at only $15 per previously produced ounce of gold, when gold is currently $1,375 per ounce"

What is it about mining companies that attracts so many crooks and idiots? Mark Twain noted it over 150 years ago and it's still the same now, so there must be something more going on here.

While the world gasped in shock'n'awe over the 87% approval rating garnered by President Lula in Brazil in his last month of office (e.g. Reuters EngLang report here), your author's eye was caught a little more by another survey response in the very same CNI/Ibope poll. This charts shows....

...what Brazilians expect from the new Dilma Rousseff government that takes over January 1st, with most expecting a pretty smooth continuation of things. And that's probably true about most domestic political affairs, but your humble scribe has the feeling that Dilma is looking to run the macro-economy at a different tack...starting with an attempt to depreciate the Real. We shall see, but we do wish Dilma the best of fortune.

12/17/10

Yesterday your humble scribe did a rough translation of the lyrics, which was then sent to reader/pal 'MR' and the wonderful Bina. They came back with improvements and thoughts and what you see below is an amalgam of your author's translation, MR's suggestions and Bina's excellent Spanish grammar and vocab (that weeded out an obvious mistake or three I'd made in hindsight and came with better word choices in multiple places). However I'm sure MR and Bina would agree that any translation of poetry is always extremely difficult and fraught with points for further debate, so what you see below isn't some definitive version. If you guys out there have better ideas feel free to add, but I will say that it means a lot more when you hear it in the original language than when it's translated.

The song is heartachingly beautiful and reminds your author of why he feels so privileged to live in the middle of it all. The delivery is light, the voices spectacular, the underlying message spot on, it marks the point when Calle 13 moved up a level and became a great band, not just a very good one. Enjoy.

Calle 13: Latinoamérica

I am

I am what they left behind

I am the leftovers of what they stole

A people hidden at the summit

My skin is leather

For this I stand any climate

I’m a smoke factory

A peasant workforce for your consumption

Facing cold in the middle of summer

Love in the time of Cholera, my brother

The sun that is born and the day that dies

With the best sunsets

I am development in the raw

A political speech without saliva

The most beautiful faces that I know

I’m the photo of a disappeared

The blood in your veins

I’m a piece of earth that’s worth the trouble.

A basket of beans

I’m Maradona against England

Scoring two goals

I’m the one holding my flag high

The backbone of the planet is my mountain range

I’m what my father taught me

He who doesn’t love his fatherland

doesn’t love his mother

I am Latin America

A people without legs that walks

(Chorus)

You cannot buy the wind

You cannot buy the sun

You cannot buy the rain

You cannot buy the heat

You cannot buy the clouds

You cannot buy the colours

You cannot buy my happiness

You cannot buy my suffering

I have lakes, I have rivers

I have my teeth for when they smile at me

The snow that paints my mountains

I have the sun to dry me and the rain to bathe me

A desert drunk on peyote

A drink of Pulque to sing with the coyote

Is all I need

I have my lungs breathing clear blue

The altitude that suffocates

I’m the molars of my mouth chewing coca leaves

The autumn with its fainting leaves

The verses written under a starry sky

A vineyard full of grapes
A sugar cane plantation under the sun in a Cuba

I’m the Caribbean sea that watches over the houses

Performing rituals with holy water

The wind that combs my hair

I’m all of the saints that I hang from my neck

The juice of my struggle is not artificial

Because the fertilizer of my earth is natural

Chorus X2 (1 rep in Spanish, 2 rep in Portuguese)
My land is not for sale

Brutal work but with pride

Here we share, what’s mine is yours
These people don’t fall for dirty tricks

Ecuador and Colombiaget ATPDEA approval for another 18 months (from the US Congress at least, the Senate still has to do its thing) while Bolivia is left out of the deal for the third year running. Because it doesn't have oil. Mind you, the continued GDP growth in Bolivia means that Evo doesn't really need it. So ya boo to you.

Today's bizarre story. A pair of Colombian twins meet up after 12 years separated. One is a solider in the Colombian army, the other a member of the left wing FARC insurgents. Soldier twin convinces FARC twin to give himself up.

Are you honestly worried that gold is under $1,400/oz? Do you have any idea of how silly that makes you sound? So next time, when the ProphetsOfDoom™ feel like it's their turn at the mike just let them talk. And laugh at them.

In December 2008, Fronteer (FRG) bought the 58% of shares in Aurora Energy that it didn't already own for $110m worth of its shares. The deal put a value of around $190m on Aurora and also came with the $86m in cash held by Aurora that was folded into the FRG books....so wrap that one with a neat bow and say FRG paid $104m for the Aurora assets.

Today, FRG has disposed of those assets. Paladin Energy (PDN.to)has agreed to pay $260m in stock for the Aurora assets. At first pass it looks like a decent win-win situation, where FRG gets to unload (and capitalize) on a decent asset that wasn't part of its core plan moving forward (it wants to be a gold miner.....lord knows why?) and Paladin gets to do what it's good at with a very good looking uranium asset (that's still under moratorium). And for the last two years, FRG has basically done zipsquat with Aurora thanks to that moratorium.

A final thought: Maybe FRG is now more attractive to majors as a purer gold play. Maybe today's move will start M&A rumours....maybe maybe maybe.....

1. (S) This message is in response to reftel request for information on the emotional and physical health of President Alan Garcia. Our responses are slugged to the questions in reftel paragraphs. We do not always have first-hand information on the questions asked, a fact reflected in some of our answers below.

2. (S) Garcia's overall health appears to be good. Notwithstanding a strenuous work schedule, he has clearly gained weight over the past several months. This shows (both in press photos and private meetings) in his slightly larger jowls and a growing paunch. Reports of manic depression or bipolar disorder are impossible to confirm, but rumors in this connection are widespread. For example, many of our contacts (with purported first-hand knowledge) say that Garcia has always been moody, disposed to sudden flights of enthusiasm, plunges of bad humor, and abrupt changes of mind. Many of the more damaging rumors appear to have their origins in the latter part of Garcia's first term, when his popularity plummeted and the political and security situations spiraled out of control. According to some reports, in response Garcia at one point fell into a deep funk, locked himself behind closed doors and refused public contact of any kind for days on end. While that report continues to hound him, there are no indications that it responds to a long-standing or deep-set dimension of his psychological or emotional makeup.

3. (S) We do not have the names and/or specialties of his doctors.

4. (S) We have no direct information with respect to medications taken by the president. A number of our contacts have told us (as though it were an established fact) that Garcia takes lithium for anti-depression (anti-bipolar disorder) purposes, but we cannot confirm the veracity of these reports.

5. (S) There is no evidence that Garcia suffers from alcohol or drug abuse. We understand he does drink socially.

6. (S) Persecution, real as well as imagined, has been an integral part of the president's life. Garcia's father, a founding member of APRA, was imprisoned for several years for his political activism. The APRA has been the object of political persecution during Peru's recent era of military dictatorships (1968-80), its activities as anti-regime "democrats" curtailed. Garcia himself chose to leave Peru after his first term ended in 1990, partly out of fears of persecution. After one year of exile in Colombia, he fled to France on hearing reports that he was being pursued by Fujimori henchmen either for assassination or kidnapping back to Peru. More recently, as president, Garcia and his son have been the targets of alleged kidnapping plots. These experiences have broadly shaped his personal and political outlook, and exacerbated an innate tendency to keep information "close-hold," strictly limited to an intimate circle of advisors.

7. (S) A master politician, Garcia has survived and thrived via the indirect threat, ably playing rivals against one another and undermining, with cold calculation, the political bases of potential competitors, including those within his own party. Garcia's APRA party is also well known as the most effective political machine in Peru, complete with goon squads that are dispatched to do various kinds of dirty work on behalf of its leaders. We have no information that he has ever issued explicit violent threats or the like. While there are widespread reports that he is a difficult, demanding boss and a moody person, we have no information that he is abusive toward advisors or family.

8. (S) According to most reports, Garcia has an extremely heavy work load and regularly takes on too many tasks. As a man who lives and breathes politics, at the expense of most other dimensions of his life, he often works late. It could almost be said that work is all he does. Moreover, he is a pure politician in the sense that he has never done anything but the work of candidate or president, and it is all he knows how to do. (He has written books, but most critics understand that is not his gift.)

9. (S) Garcia has the reputation of being an acute micro-manager and very demanding on his staff, even tasking senior ministers in public and on the spot with various responsibilities and duties. In the sense that he often expects Ministers to divine and carry out his will rather than to generate policy ideas or propose alternative solutions, he demands the impossible. As for lofty ideas, he appears to have learned lessons from his first term, lowering expectations and focusing on pragmatic programs rather than on large romantic visions. For example, he has no apparent ambition to change the world, re-order political and economic realities according to a new "vision" for Latin America, or create the new socialist specimen or Bolivarian man. The signal programs of his second term so far -- Sierra Exportadora, Agua Para Todos, the Decentralization Shock -- amount in many ways to recombining and repackaging diverse existing tactical poverty reduction schemes (including USAID's PRA -- Poverty Reduction and Alleviation -- project) than to pursuing an overriding lofty ambition. At the same time, most observers see Garcia's strengths as rhetorical rather than administrative, in inspiring with impassioned and even poetic oratory rather than in overseeing (prosaic) projects slowly through their step by step implementation.

10. (S) Garcia's public and private persona are, in many ways, at odds. In public, he tends to strike the majesterial presidential pose, chest thrust forward, head held high, arms and hands gesturing in the formal, almost choreographed manner of the leader. He is also prone to giving long public lectures, reflecting a know-it-all and superior tone. All this comes across as pompous and inflated. By contrast, in private Garcia is a more informal, disarming and even considerate figure. He is courteous and deferential with visitors, and an excellent listener, often probing interlocutors for more detailed information. One aspect on which there is near universal agreement is that Garcia has a colossal ego, which can blind him to the merits of good ideas and alternatives that he himself has not generated. To some observers, while he is unlikely to repeat the mistakes that brought Peru close to ruin during his first administration, the ego is Garcia's Achilles' heel and could have counterproductive consequences to the current government, especially if unchecked.

11. (S) Garcia's attention span appears to be good, and his listening skills are excellent. We have no information that he has difficulty in concentrating, gets confused or is forgetful. As noted above, there are widespread reports of a certain emotional volatility, but it is not clear that this impairs his ability to think or to express himself clearly.

12. (S) We have no information about any periods of intense energy or activity, racing thoughts or incoherence. We have not noted any tendency to shake, blink or roll his eyes.

13. (S) While there are widespread reports that Garcia fell into a deep depression near the end of his first term (as noted above), we have no information that that corresponds to a deep-set emotional characteristic or that it has recurred regularly since that time. We have no information about talk of suicide.

14. (S) We have no information regarding any decreased need for sleep or food. A truly gifted orator, he never sounds as though his speech were hurried or pressured, nor does it follow a notably illogical flow.

15. (S) We have no information about his exercise routine or diet regimen, nor any dietary restrictions due to ongoing medications.

16. (S) We have no information regarding any compulsive overeating, shopping, gambling or the like. That said, as noted above, Garcia has manifestly gained weight since being in office and is likely a consequence of his eating amply and well. There are widespread rumors of Garcia's numerous extra-marital sexual liaisons. Recently, Garcia publicly acknowledged one of them, with Ms. Elizabeth Roxanne Cheesman, with whom he had a young child. While he publicly claimed that this relationship occurred during the brief time he was estranged from his wife Pilar Nores, some observers have suggested that it was much more enduring than he had publicly let on.

17. (S) In the interim between the end of his first presidential term in 1990 and the current term, which began in July of 2006, Garcia has spent time both abroad and in Peru. After leaving office the first time, in 1992 Garcia fled to a kind of quasi political exile in Bogota, Colombia, where he remained for one year. (Garcia harbors a deep sympathy for Colombia dating back to that time.) From there, he fled to France, where he lived for the following eight years. (From this period, Garcia speaks excellent French and has a strong personal sympathy for French society and life.) He returned to Peru in 2001, following Alberto Fujimori's resignation from the presidency. He was formally separated from his wife in 2004-5.
STRUBLE

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 12/16/10) - First Quantum Minerals Ltd. ("First Quantum" or the "Company") (TSX:FM - News)(LSE:FQM - News), Antares Minerals Inc. ("Antares") (TSX-V:ANM - News) and Regulus Resources Inc. ("Regulus") (TSX-V:REG - News), today announced the closing of the previously-announced plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement"), pursuant to which a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Quantum has acquired all of the outstanding securities of Antares. Under the Arrangement, each common share of Antares was exchanged for, at the election of the holder thereof, (i) 0.07619 of a common share of First Quantum (the "Share Consideration") or (ii) a cash payment in the amount of C$6.35 (the "Cash Consideration"), or a combination of both the Share Consideration and the Cash Consideration.
The Arrangement was carried out pursuant to the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) and was approved by the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta and the affirmative vote of 100% of Antares' securityholders at a special meeting of shareholders held on December 10, 2010.
Pursuant to the Arrangement, First Quantum, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, acquired all 72,364,467 issued and outstanding common shares of Antares for aggregate Cash Consideration of approximately $2.6 million and aggregate Share Consideration of 5,481,963 common shares of First Quantum. As part of the transaction, Antares' 50% interest in the Rio Grande project located in Salta Province, northwestern Argentina, was spun out into Regulus, together with C$5 million in cash. Antares securityholders effectively received 0.4505 of a Regulus share for each of their Antares securities. Regulus is owned 90.1% by former Antares shareholders in aggregate and 9.9% by First Quantum.
The Antares common shares have been halted from trading on the TSX Venture Exchange and will remain halted until they are de-listed which is expected to be at the close of trading on December 20 CONTINUES HERE

Let's be brief and to the point: This paragraph from the NR means that PEZ.to goes up today.

"Based on the information received to date, the parties understand that the legislation, as originally proposed, has not been approved by the Governor and the Governor has stated publicly that it will not be approved in its current form. The current sitting of the BCS legislature has now ended. The legislature is not expected to resume sitting until March 2011, at which time new members and a new Governor will be sworn in following elections. There can be no certainty with respect to future legislative action, however, Pediment and Argonaut have held meetings with a variety of local stakeholders and legislators and believe there is broad opposition to the proposed legislation and support for the San Antonio Project."

Your author owns a few PEZ for this eventuality and will add if given the chance to buy at $2.00 or under this morning.

As it happens my personal bid at $2.00 maximum didn't fill because PEZ opened at 2.03 and didn't look back, but no worries because it would have been an addition and the stock held is a win. The other thing is that The IKN Weekly isn't really a intraday picking service, but more about investments over a longer timescale, so things like today's Flash update aren't so common. Anyway, PEZ is now up 10.7% on strong volume, those in early made their turkeymoney. Ho Ho Ho, merry daytrading girls and boys.

East West Petroleum (EW.v) 12 month chart: What rhymes with pump, Mr. Rule?

Your humble scribe doesn't pay much attention to the oil & gas world, what with being all fixated and that on hard rock mining, so let's start out by stating clearly that if it weren't for a headsup from reader 'RK' this post wouldn't exist. A few days ago RK wrote in to note that a new O&G exploration company, East West Petroleum (EW.v), was beingpumped hard by Marin Katusa, the utter scumbag working at Casey Research who lives to line his own back pocket at the expense of others.

RK noticed recent articles and also Katusa's blind pumping of this very early stage risky stock on a BNN TV appearance too...and then when he checked out the company website noticed that one of the guys recently taken on board was none other than Marc Bustin.

Why is this significant? Well, as we noted in this post on Katusa's backhanded fun'n'games recently, Katusa and Bustin are already bosom buddies. For one, Bustin also works at Casey Research. For another, Bustin is a main cog in the failed CBM Asia O&G explorer (TCF.v) that Katusa pumped incessantly back in 2009, getting his sheep to buy in on over-pumped expectations only for reality to set in later and the stock to crash hard (it's still crashed today, despite Katusa's insistance a few months ago that it's still a double). And while we're at it, let's check the script Katusa was reading from in September 2009 on that small O&G play:

".....my top pick for an investment for exposure to the Asian gas market is CBM Asia Development Corp. We think that this stock has the potential of being well over $1.00.......CBM Asia is definitely a company your readers will want to look into and think about owning, I own a lot of it, and will be buying a lot more soon"

That remarkably similar to the script now being used for the current Katusa small O&G play EW.v pump, methinks.. Just change the geography, extract CBM and insert oil and bingo. As for the TCF.v stock price since then....

No further comment needed.

But mainly we're interested in the Katusa/Bustin connection due to a little back-office outfit known as KBH Capital Corp, a company run by Marin Katusa, Marc Bustin and another Casey Research employee Joe Hung. These three bosom buddies made themselves rich at the expense of other via KBH Capital by pumping merry hell out of Bayfield Resources (BYV.v)then KBH received very juicy finder's fees when selling a whole bunch of new shares at $1.40 to an unsuspecting crowd (BYV now trades around 40% lower than that figure, though to be fair we need to point out the flow through nature of the $1.40 shares Katusa flogged that come with certain tax advantages).

Anyway, back to East West Petroleum (EW.v). On a quick look at the Katusa pump-job and then a quick check of the EW.v website, your humble scribe's interest was piqued. Yes indeed, with Katusa's pally pal Bustin installed as an officer and then Katusa giving it the full-on promo to anyone who'd listen (including the helpless sheep who are silly enough to buy his 'Casey Energy Report') the scamster's modus operandi was showing. And so a quick checkof the deeper filing stuff and......

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing East West Petroleum Corp.'s(the 'Company') Change of Business (the 'COB') and related transactions, allas principally described in its filing statement dated September 15, 2010 (the'Filing Statement'). The COB includes the following matters, all of which havebeen accepted by the Exchange.

1. Acquisition of interest in the Carbon Property

Pursuant to an agreement dated September 15, 2010 between the Company andSphere Energy Corp. ("Sphere"), the Company will acquire Sphere's interest inthe Carbon Property in Alberta for $1,125,000. The Carbon Property is located approximately 50 miles northeast ofCalgary, Alberta. Sphere's working interests in the Property range from 4.8%to 20% in four producing oil wells and thirteen gas wells (eight flowing coalbed methane gas). The wells are producing from the Horseshoe Canyon, BasalBelly River, Belly River, Viking, Glauconitic and Ellerslie formations. The Exchange has been advised that the Company's acquisition of the CarbonProperty has received shareholder approval and has been completed. Foradditional information refer to the Filing Statement available under theCompany's profile on SEDAR.

2. Private Placement-Non-Brokered

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect toa Non-Brokered Private Placement announced August 18, 2010 and September 14,2010:

Finders' Fees: KBH Capital Corp. - $115,000 and 460,000 warrants that are exercisable at $0.25 per share for a 36 month period.

Shane Lowry. - $124,000 and 496,000 warrants that are exercisable at $0.25 per share for a 36 month period.

Global Market Development LLC - $18,750 and 75,000 warrants that are exercisable into common shares at $0.25 per share for a 36 month period.

3. Graduation from NEX to TSX Venture

The Company has met the requirements to be listed as a TSX Venture Tier 2Company. Therefore, effective Friday, October 1, 2010, the Company's listingwill transfer from NEX to TSX Venture, the Company's Tier classification willchange from NEX to Tier 2 and the Filing and Service Office will change fromNEX to Vancouver.

...yes indeed, it IS the same old story! Back in September, EW.v ran a placement financing to raise $3.4m and OH LOOK AT THAT, KBH CAPITAL MADE THEMSELVES A WHOLE STACK OF MONEY as not only did Katusa, Bustin and Hung pocket $115,000 in cash (that helps pay the lunch bills) but they were also granted 460,000 warrants priced at 25c. So with Katusa pumping away since then and getting the retail saps on board, those warrants are now worth a cool $621,000 and about to come out of escrow, too.

And a very merry Christmas to you too, Marin!

Isn't it funny how lapse and forgetful Marin Katusa is when it comes to the moment to disclose on a recommended company? He does say "he holds shares", but he doesn't mention about the intimate involvement with the company's management team, he forgets his über-close ties with previous rounds of financing, he doesn't tell a soul just how much he wants that stock to go up before his warrants come out of escrow. On other words, just the same old Katusa modus operandi that's schemed to line his own pockets at the expense of others (just ask any holder of TCF.v how they feel about Katusa's pump jobs...or ask those he got into BYV.v at $1.40). So let's recap on this clear pattern, the Katusa M.O:

3) Katusa gets in on East West Petroleum (EW.v), Marc Bustin on board via KBH Capital and a member of the management team, shares placed, KBH securesjuicy finder's fees, Katusa pumps stock..........and have a guess as to what your humble scribe thinks will happen next?

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Right now (and on the back of all this Katusa-generated hype that's seemingly little but self-service and very murkily disclosed) EW.v is running another, altogethermuch bigger $26.5m round of share placement financingthat supposed to close on December 22nd. What with Katusa pumping away like mad on EW.v, kinda suspicious given this placement's timing, wouldn't it be an absolutely shocking surprise to find out that KBH Capital, the company that benefits not only Katusa but a member of EW.v's very own management team in a direct manner, has made good yet again on this deal via extra juicy finder's fees and warrants issuances when this latest share placement closes next week?

IKN strongly suggests that you avoid these men if seen walking the streets of Vancouver:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2010-246

Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2010 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose rules outlining the way in which mining companies must disclose to investors certain information about mine safety and health standards.

The proposed rules would implement Section 1503 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires mining companies to include information about mine safety and health standards in their annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. Mining companies also would be required to file a Form 8-K with the SEC when they receive certain notices from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
"Congress has determined that investors will benefit from disclosure of the health and safety records of mining companies," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "We look forward to hearing from commenters as to whether these rules address the informational needs of investors."
Public comments on the proposed rules should be received by the Commission by Jan. 31, 2011.
# # #

FACT SHEET

Background

Section 1503 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires mining companies to include mine safety and health information in their annual and quarterly reports filed with the Commission. It also requires mining companies to file a Form 8-K when they receive certain notices from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The disclosure requirements in the Act are based on the safety and health requirements that apply to mines under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act).
The mine safety disclosure requirements are currently in effect. However, the Commission is proposing to add the requirements to its rules and forms and address the scope and application of the requirements.

Requirements of the Proposed Rules

Periodic Reporting Requirements

Under the proposed rules, mining companies would be required to provide, as an exhibit to their annual and quarterly reports, mine safety information listed in Section 1503 of the Dodd-Frank Act and certain additional disclosure designed to provide context to such information. The Dodd-Frank Act requires companies to disclose:

The total number of significant and substantial violations of mandatory health or safety standards under section 104 of the Mine Act for which the operator received a citation from MSHA.

The total number of orders issued under section 104(b) of the Mine Act.

The total number of citations and orders for unwarrantable failure of the mine operator to comply with mandatory health and safety standards under section 104(d) of the Mine Act.

The total number of flagrant violations under section 110(b)(2) of the Mine Act.

The total number of imminent danger orders issued under section 107(a) of the Mine Act.

The total dollar value of proposed assessments from MSHA.

A list of the mines that have been notified by MSHA of a pattern of violations or a potential to have a pattern of violations under section 104(e) of the Mine Act.

The proposed rules would use the language used in Section 1503 of the Dodd-Frank Act to set forth the disclosure requirements, and also provide instructions to mining companies about the information required to be disclosed about penalty assessments and pending legal actions.
For example, in a quarterly report, mining companies would need to report the total amount of penalty assessments proposed during the quarter, and also the total of all assessments outstanding on the last day of the quarter, even if the company is contesting the assessment. Similarly, under the proposal, mining companies would report a pending legal action in the report for the quarter when the legal action began, and also update the information in later reports if there were material developments.
In addition to the Dodd-Frank Act required disclosure, the Commission is proposing that mining companies provide a brief description of each category of violations, orders and citations they are reporting, so that investors can understand the information provided without having to research the Mine Act and MSHA's rules.
As proposed, the periodic reporting requirements would apply to both U.S. companies and foreign private issuers.

Form 8-K Reporting Requirement

The Commission is also proposing to add a new item to Form 8-K, which would require domestic mining companies to file Form 8-K within four business days after receiving from MSHA three types of notices specified by the Dodd-Frank Act:

An imminent danger order under section 107(a) of the Mine Act.

Written notice of a pattern of violations under section 104(e) of the Mine Act.

Written notice of the potential to have a pattern of such violations.

The proposed Form 8-K item would require a mining company to report the date it received the notice, the type of notice, and the name and location of the mine involved. Foreign private issuers would not be required to file current reports under the proposal. Finally, under the proposal a late filing of the Form 8-K would not affect a company's eligibility to use Form S-3 short-form registration.

What's Next?

The Commission is seeking public comments on the proposed rules that should be received by Jan. 31, 2011. The Commission will review the comments it receives and consider those comments in determining whether to adopt the proposed rules.

The final world ranking numbers for 2010 have just been published by world governing body FIFA and because we only love LatAm round here and know for a fact that the top three teams, Spain (1), The Netherlands (2) and Germany (3) were just plain lucky in 2010 and show very little footballing skill*, let's check on how The Americas stand in the world pile. In this list, we're cutting off at the first 100 teams in the world, so countries like Belize, Guyana or Barbados don't show.

World Ranking

In The Americas

Country

FIFA points total

4

1

Brazil

1446

5

2

Argentina

1338

7

3

Uruguay

1152

15

4

Chile

950

18

5

USA

867

24

6

Paraguay

832

27

7

Mexico

795

48

8

Colombia

558

53

9

Ecuador

535

58

10

Jamaica

522

59

11

Honduras

516

60

12

Venezuela

515

62

13

Cuba

512

64

14

Panama

501

68

15

Peru

486

69

16

Costa Rica

467

84

17

Canada

411

89

18

Trin&Tob

373

90

19

Haiti

367

94

20

Granada

349

97

21

Bolivia

344

Top is Brazil with Argentina on their heels and nobody's really going to argue with that. Then comes the World Cup's biggest and best surprise package, Uruguay, fully deserving its place then excellent team that Mercelo Bielsa put together for Chile who have played attractive stuff all year, not just in the South Africa main event. Also worthy of applause is the USA team that's developing very well. Perhaps not the flair and style of others, but great team ethic, an emphasis on fair play and a team taken serious by all world opponents these days.

As for the underachievers, Mexico in 7th is the first one that catches the eye. There's plenty of money and skill in the Mexican league these days but the national team continues to disappoint its population. Next, you have to wonder how Peru feels, stuck beneath the likes of Cuba and Panama. Finally, Bolivia in 21st place and 97th in the world should feel the shame of being the worst ranked team in the South American qualifying league, the continent most nuts about football (ok, soccer if you like) there is.

This hit the Bloomberg terminal service (i.e. not public web) wires yesterday and as it's now being partly reportedon the interwebnetpipes, we'll paste it out. On reading the headline you gotta think he likes where the company is heading. DYODD, dudette&dude.

Rio Alto Stock Will Likely Quadruple Next Year, COO Black Says

2010-12-14 19:06:30.660 GMT

By John Quigley

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Rio Alto Mining Ltd., the best-performing stock in Peru’s main index this year, will quadruple in 2011 as it starts producing gold and explores for reserves, said Alex Black, the company’s chief operating officer.

Rio Alto’s La Arena mine in Peru’s northern Andes region will probably yield its first gold by the second quarter and is likely to produce 70,000 ounces next year, Black said. High metals prices will also help propel the shares, he said.

“We should be a $500 million to $1 billion company next year,” Black said in an interview in Lima today. “There are plenty of other companies that have valuations two or three times more than us with assets that are not quite as robust or big as ours. As long as metals prices stay strong, we will see that price appreciation in our stock.”

Rio Alto, based in Calgary, has surged fivefold this year, the steepest advance in the 36-stock Lima General Index, after announcing in July that La Arena would start processing ore this month. Gold surged 29 percent this year to a record $1,432.50 an ounce on Dec. 7 after investors lost confidence in currencies

Bolivia's new anti racism law is now in force and to back up its message the government put together a spot to explain what it does (and what it doesn't do). Contrary to the northern handwringing that went on about the issue, it doesn't reduce freedom of expression or human rights or anything of the sort. What it does is stop hate-filled insulting racism from filling the airwaves in Bolivia.

Here's the advert in question so you can judge for yourself. It's in Spanish (natch) but below I've translated the examples used in the spot of the typical type of tripe spewed (and these aren't some sort of exception, either...this stuff is heard all the time).

It's a little tough to accurately translate such filth, but the sentiment is accurate in each translation:.

Arturo Mendivil: "...against these Goddam Colla* sons of bitches.."

*'Colla' is an insulting slang word used by Bolivian whites against indigenous nationals

Jorge Melgar: "...I hate that Goddam race.."

Carlos Valverde: "Officially, I wipe my balls on this law."

Arturo Mendivil: "The Colla badly born and tied to stone llamas" (believe me, there's a lot of cultural baggage in that one and it's really sickeningly racist)

But then it gets better. The abovementioned moron Jorge Melgar is now trying to penalize the government of Bolivia as racist! He wants to take them to court for using his words in their advert and says that he's the one being discriminated against....I shit thee not, dear reader. Here's theRed Erbol report:

La Paz, 14 Dec (Erbol): Professor Jorge Melgar Quette, who used to state that "we have to kill that Indian shit" in reference to President Evo Morales, announced that he will file suit against the government for racism and discrimination for using his image in a video for a TV announcement regarding the new "Law against racism and all forms of discrimination."Continues here

So, wanting to kill a president because he's a brown skinned person is an example of free speech, but using the words against you when pointing at incitement and the use of bigoted language is a criminal act. These are the people that ran Bolivia before Evo arrived in town. These are the people that The US backed via its ambassador Goldberg in the 2008 attempt on Evo's government. And you wonder why the US isn't popular round Bolivia way any longer....

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